Save Shortcuts

iPhone, iPad, & iPod Touch

Launch the Safari browser on Apple’s iOS and navigate to the website or web page you want to add to your home screen. Tap the Share button on the browser’s toolbar — that’s the rectangle with an arrow pointing upward. It’s on the bar at the top of the screen on an iPad, and on the bar at the bottom of the screen on an iPhone or iPod Touch. Tap the Add to Home Screen icon in the Share menu.

You’ll be prompted to name the shortcut before tapping the Add button. The shortcut can be dragged around and placed anywhere, including in app folders — just like a normal app icon. (To create app folders on iOS, touch-and-drag an app’s icon onto another app’s icon and hold it there for a moment.) When you tap the icon, it will load the website in a normal tab inside the Safari browser app.

Android

Launch Chrome for Android and open the website or web page you want to pin to your home screen. Tap the menu button and tap Add to homescreen. You’ll be able to enter a name for the shortcut and then Chrome will add it to your home screen.

The icon will appear on your home screen like any other app shortcut or widget, so you can drag it around and put it wherever you like.

Windows 8, 8.1, RT

Windows 8, 8.1, and RT devices also offer a way to pin websites to your Start screen. This is obviously most useful on tablets, not on desktop PCs where you don’t want to see the Start screen.

First, open the modern Internet Explorer browser — that’s what you’re probably using on a tablet, anyway, as it offers the most touch-optimized experience. Navigate to the website you want to pin, pull up the app bar — for example, by right-clicking or swiping up from the bottom of your screen — and tap the star icon. Tap the pin icon, enter a name for the shortcut, and click Pin to Start. The website will appear as a tile on your Start screen.